The following regulations shall apply to child care or day care center and child caring institutions:
(a) Licensing. In accordance with applicable state laws, all child care facilities shall be registered with or licensed by the State of Ohio, and shall comply with the minimum standards outlined for such facilities.
(b) Outdoor Play Area. A minimum of 150 square feet of outdoor play area shall be provided, and maintained per child, provided that the overall area of the play area shall not be less than 5,000 square feet. The outdoor play area shall be suitably fenced and secured.
Outdoor play areas accessory to a child day care center, day nursery, nursery school or pre-school shall be screened from abutting residentially zoned or used land by a greenbelt, which shall be landscaped in accordance with Chapter 1136 (Landscaping, Screening, and Planting).
(c) Pick-up and Drop-off. Adequate areas shall be provided for employee and resident parking, and pick-up and drop-off of children or adults, in a manner that minimizes pedestrian-vehicle conflicts, and allows maneuvers without affecting traffic flow on the public street.
All day care centers, day nurseries, nursery schools, and pre-schools shall have frontage on, and direct vehicle access to a public street classified as a collector, arterial or thoroughfare by the City’s Comprehensive Plan, or county or state road authorities. Vehicle access from these uses to local streets shall be limited to secondary access where necessary for health and safety purposes.
(d) Separation Requirements. New child care or day care center and child caring institutions shall be located a minimum of 1,500 feet from any other state licensed residential facility, as measured between the nearest points on the property lines of the lots in question. The Commission may permit a smaller separation between such facilities upon determining that such action will not result in an excessive concentration of such facilities in a single neighborhood, or in the City overall.
(e) Hours of Operation. Child care or day care center and child caring institutions in residential districts or accessory to a residential use shall operate a maximum of 16 hours per day. (Ord. 45-09. Passed 9-8-09.)